Water, Energy, Gaia and Me

For a Liberal, I certainly hate a lot of liberal causes.

For example- I have been screaming about water for years. Canada has lots of it, the rest of the world does not.

A few facts before we get into the protectionist Maude Barlow's of the world.

1) There are more people in the world now than there was before. In ten years, there will be even more. They are all thirsty.

2) Water can't be destroyed the way you think. Pooping into the water and flushing it down the toilet doesn't waste it. Running a hose doesn't waste it. Diverting it to Las Vegas to water golf courses doesn't waste it. It evaporates and takes a different form. It is a chemical substance. Like energy, it will always find its way back into the 'total' ecosystem in some way shape or form. It just might not be easily accessible as water vapour in the atmosphere.

3) Contrary to popular belief, we can make more of it.


That said, I am sick and tired of Robert Kennedy Jr. This aloof jag off thinks he is his dad - but in reality he is just another un-elected dauphin that brings entitlement into a debate that isn't really all that substantive.

His latest crusade: Saving the Colorado River.

While I will always agree that as a species we need to waste less stuff (power, water, food) I do not buy any of the presuppositions on which his latest cause is based. For starters, conserving water in the Pacific states will not make more snow land in the Rockies. More importantly, in a desert, rushing waters will eventually evaporate. Thirdly, Las Vegas recycles far more water than you would think.

So, I am going to sidestep the dauphin, and talk about the real problem. Can our planet help create enough water for our exploding population, and what can we do to help it?

1) We can use less water. This seems like a no-brainer, but that is really just a band-aid. It shifts the problem a few decades, maybe. We can certainly improve crop practices and have better collection methods for 'lost' water.

2) We can use the water we have more effectively. Canada has lots of water - we use a lot of it, but we can certainly share it. It isn't science fiction to see water flowing across the globe in tubes and aquifers - hell, we do that with oil and gas now.

3) We can make more water. It is very energy intensive, but we can take the molecules and make H2O. Incidentally, there are other molecules that we "have too much of" which we can draw from, including C02, CH2FCF3, CH3CHF2 and others. The irony of creating GHGs to make water by reformulating existing GHGs, is not lost on me.

How? Well, it is energy intensive, but the Saudi's have been desalinating ocean water for twenty years. Another way is to 'crack' other molecules. The energy intensity would normally create significant forms of pollution - but I am not afraid of the nuclear boogeyman the way that others are.

Ultimately, we are parched and we need something to drink. We can create more water for our growing thrist or we can continue to trick ourselves that conversation is the solution to all of the world's problems.